Battle of Nova Ciborro

The Battle of Nova Ciborro occurred in 1655 during the Dutch-Portuguese War when the United Provinces, from their settlement of New Tilburg, assaulted the Portuguese settlement of Nova Ciborro. The Dutch allied with local Sufi forces under imam Johan Iman Hartanto, recruiting war elephants and later acquiring horsemen from an allied mission of Jesuits. They advanced north from New Tilburg to attack the undeveloped Portuguese settlement, which was little more than a town center and a couple of houses, and they razed the town without much opposition. The battle ensured that the Dutch would have a head start in the colonization of the East Indies, threatening Portuguese hegemony in the region.